105 



DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF TIPHIIDAE FROM NEVADA 

 AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

 BY P. CAMERON. 



Very little has Ijeeii done towards the elneidation of the North AnieL'- 

 ican species of Tiphlu and the allied genus of Paratiphia. It is not 

 surprising therefore that Prof. Baker has discovered several undescribed 

 species. 



Only one species of Paratiphia has hiterto been recorded from North 

 America, namely, albilabris Spinola; Saint Fargeau, Nat. Hist. de3 

 Hymen. Ill, p. 556, from California, which I have not been able to 

 recognize from the too short description, which might be sufficient if 

 only one species w^ere known, but is quite inadequate when it fits two 

 or three. It seems to be larger than any of tl\e males known to me. To 

 complete my paper 1 give the description of "albilabris": "Entirely 

 black, with grey h.nirs. Clypeus white. Abdominal segments ciliated 

 with grey hairs. Legs black, tlieir pubescence gray. Wings hyaline, 

 nervures and costa red; stigma and tegnlae black. Male. Length three 

 and one-half lines. Galifoi-nia. " 



There is an interesting sexual distinction shown by the males and 

 females of Paratiphia. In the females there is only a somewhat tri- 

 angular area on the base of the metauotum; in the males there are 

 two rows of longitudinal keels, forming small areae. 



The species which 1 described in the Biol. Cent. Amer. II, pp. 235-239, 

 under Epomidiopter(>n are to be referred to Paratiphia, which I then 

 could not very well separate from the descriptions given by Sichel 

 (Saussure, Cat. Spec. Gen. Scolia, pp. 264-269). According to Ashmead, 

 Canad. Ent. 1903, p. 39, " Epomidiopteron DeRomand is some thing 

 quite different and is apparently allied to Engycistus "i^ox. In the fe- 

 male of De Remand's genus the radial cellule is closed at the apex, the 

 fore tibia is produced into a long acute spine at tlie middle, and in the 

 male the first transverse cubital nervure is entire, not obliterated at 

 the base." I have not access to DeRonmnd's paper, and cannot, there- 

 fore, come to any conclusion in the matter; but I may point out that 

 Smith shows in his plate E julii DeRom. to have a Viroken first 

 transverse cubital nervure and seems to be congeneric with Para 

 tiphia 12-maculaia. Cam., Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. XXX, 94. These large, 

 yellow-spotted species appear certainly different from the small, black, 

 densely haired ones. 



Smith's Tiphia clypeata, male, (Descr. of New Species of Hymen, 

 p. 187) from Mexico is no doubt a Paratiphia, judging from its white 

 mouth and mandibles. The metathorax is described as "longitudinally 

 rugose; the usual three carinae not distinctly observable, but pr.rallel 

 and rather wide apart." 



